Recruitment is daunting for small businesses. They usually don’t have deep pockets and personnel to attract top talent. And yet, like every company, they need people to operate.

For small businesses to choose the right person, they need to follow a series of distinct steps. Today, we’ll go over a simple process you can use for your business, no matter what role you want to fill.

This process also ensures that your recruitment is fair and effective. Here’s a quick rundown of the steps.

Step 1: Define the role

So you’ve decided that you need to engage someone. Before you rush off to hire a new employee, think about:

• What the role is.
• The actual requirements of the job.
• How it fits in your business and future plans.

Make a job description to clarify the job’s purpose, tasks, and responsibilities. And remember, this is about the job, not the person.

Step 2: Build a candidate profile

To find the right talent for your business, you need to know what your ideal candidate is like. Do this by creating a candidate profile, which is a list of qualifications and qualities that you want in a candidate.

First, divide the profile into four columns:

• The “must-have” column, where each item listed is an absolute necessity.
• The “nice-to-have” column, where the items are negotiable. You’d still consider a candidate even if they didn’t possess the items listed here.
• The “doesn’t matter column“, where the traits listed aren’t important for the role.
• The “absolutely not” column, which contains traits that candidates shouldn’t have.

Next, fill up each column with the corresponding qualifications and qualities. The “doesn’t matter” column may seem unnecessary, but it helps you visualise how many miscellaneous traits you thought you needed but actually don’t.

Don’t forget to take the following into account when building a candidate profile:

• Your company’s culture and vision
• Your top performers’ traits and skills

Step 3: Attract applicants

It’s time to start the search for suitable candidates. First, think about where you can advertise to attract a range of quality applicants. You’re aiming to get the best response at the least cost.

You also have to think about the ad itself. An effective job ad sells the position and the business. This is particularly important for small and new businesses. Why? Because their company name might not be well known.

For best results, keep the ad to the point. Make sure to avoid gendered or culturally specific language as well.

Use an application form when recruiting so that:

• You won’t rely on each candidate responding in their own way.
• The candidates provide all the necessary and relevant information.
• Comparing candidates becomes so much easier.

Step 4: Shortlist suitable candidates

To narrow your candidate pool, draw up your selection criteria. It’s a smart practice to make a checklist based on the role’s desirable skills and required experience. Use this checklist to evaluate how closely candidates match up to the candidate profile.

You may want to ask your business adviser or a colleague to help you with the selection and interview process. This helps ensure there is no personal bias in the process.

Once you have your shortlist of suitable candidates, send each a letter inviting them to an interview.

Step 5: Interview and choose

You must give each candidate the same opportunities so that:

• They’ll give the best presentation of themselves.
• Demonstrate the their suitability for the role.
• They’ll ask the interviewer questions.

Likewise, see to it that you use a standardised structure for the job interview. Doing so will yield consistent results and make it easier for you to compare your candidates.

At the end of each job interview, tell the candidate what happens next, and when they can expect to hear from you.

When you’ve made your decision, notify the successful candidate, but also remember to let the other candidates know that you’ve chosen someone else.

If you follow these steps whenever you’re recruiting, you’ll find it more straightforward. You’ll also ensure that your recruitment is effective and fair.

Partner with us

You can also circumvent these steps by teaming up with Remote Workmate. Unlike job boards and freelancing sites where you do everything yourself, we handle all the heavy lifting for you, including recruitment and payroll.

You can actually choose from our pool of top candidates right away. Simply click the button below to browse a wide range of profiles on our Hotlist page.